Battle of Berezina

Overview

The Battle of (the) Berezina took place from 26 to 29 November 1812, between Napoleon's Grande Armée and the Imperial Russian Army under Field Marshal Wittgenstein and Admiral Chichagov. Napoleon was retreating toward Poland in chaos after the aborted occupation of Moscow and trying to cross the Berezina River at Borisov. The outcome of the battle was inconclusive as, despite heavy losses, Napoleon managed to cross the river and continue his retreat with the surviving remnants of his army.

Overview adapted from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.

Significance

The Battle of Berezina unfolded over four days as Napoleon's Grande Armée attempted to cross the Berezina River at Borisov during the chaotic retreat from Moscow toward Poland. Caught between Russian forces under Wittgenstein and Chichagov, the French were heavily outnumbered—36,000 effectives against a combined Russian strength of 61,500. The crossing succeeded, allowing Napoleon and the surviving remnants of his army to continue the retreat, but at catastrophic cost: French casualties reached an estimated 50,000 to 60,000 against Russian losses of around 10,000. The outcome was inconclusive in a narrow operational sense—Napoleon escaped encirclement—but strategically the battle sealed the destruction of the Grande Armée as a coherent fighting force. What had begun as an aborted occupation of Moscow ended at the Berezina as the effective end of French military power in the 1812 campaign, with the army reduced to a fraction of its strength and the invasion irrecoverably lost.

Forces & casualties

Commanders (7)